A free health station which checks blood pressure, BMI (Body Mass Index), body fat percentage and emotional stress level, is now available in Harris Pharmacy, Dunstable Road in Bury Park, Luton, giving the local community easy access to a quick and simple health check.
This is the fourth health station to be installed in the town following the success of three other stations, which last year saw over 7600 people complete nearly 14,000 health checks.
The health stations are fully automated and users are guided through their health check with simple on-screen instructions which takes less than 10 minutes. Results are shown on-screen as well as emailed to the user at the end of their check. Users can set up an account to keep a regular check on their health throughout the year and to receive a reminder when it’s time for their next check.
If any risk factors are identified during the check, users are signposted to sources of support, including their local pharmacy and the council’s health and wellbeing provider, Total Wellbeing Luton who deliver a range of healthier lifestyle programmes.
“This year I want to urge even more people to use the health stations to keep a regular check on their health. If you have high blood pressure (hypertension), you may not even know about it as there are rarely any signs or symptoms – but it puts you at an increased risk for heart disease, heart failure and stroke and chronic kidney disease that’s why it is often called the ‘silent killer’. Doing a health check takes less than 10 minutes and could save your life.”
Over half of people (4195) using the stations had not received a blood pressure check in the previous 12 months. Since December 2022 users have also been able to opt-in to receive support with diet, exercise, quitting smoking and emotional wellbeing from Total Wellbeing Luton.